Natural sailors ?

Originally posted by mike ellis whats this "L" technique for gybes? heard of S gybes but never an L gybe.

It maybe what they teach beginners, but it works well for me.

You flap the tiller extension away from you before the gybe, it makes an
L shape and it's supposed to keep it away from rear sheet rope travellers I
guess..

As to gybing and having shown a sailing instructor how to do it better
when she came in our boat, we do it the same as windsurfing, sail low
and come out low, well as low as it'll stay on the plane at least. But I think
it takes a windsurfers "sense" of where the wind is and what its doing in
the transition, cos "they" (Proper sailing Instructor types at least the ones
we get round here) always seem to come out of the gybe too high which
is o.k. on a less weight sensitive boat, but on ours which is extremely
twitchy and we're close to the max crew weight come out to high and
you're over.

So now, what's an "S" gybe? and what's a "Chicken gybe?

Edited by G.R.F

Originally posted by Stefan Lloyd Originally posted by tickler One third are no hopers but having fun. One third are in the middle. The third third? are competative and trying hard. At the top  are the few boats in with a chance. Don't think that's actually true. I've seen a number of "no hopers" turn into regular winners over the years, so presumably they were in fact trying all along. Plus everyone is actually in with a chance. With a good start and a couple of lucky windshifts, most of the fleet can manage a win once in a while. It happens.

I'd hope EVERYONE is having fun regardless of their position in the fleet and as Stefan points out people seem to get better over time, I am sure everyone wants to improve regardless of their position in the fleet and as such everyone is "trying"

O.K. so the S thing is pretty much what we do anyhow, just don't harden up
til you're ready - Chicken Gybing isn't actually gybing then its sailing past
the mark, tacking then bearing off again.. Er it has been known to happen
especially during a "dolphin attack" but a bit tricky with a spinnaker up..

Originally posted by Stefan Lloyd Originally posted by G.R.F but a bit tricky with a spinnaker up.. I've tacked a 38 footer with the spinnaker up. It was an emergency avoidance maneouvre but I don't really recommend it as it took quite some time to disentangle the mess.

Possible on a leadmine with all that momentum but not so easy in a lightweight dinghy. I have managed to tack the kite on the MPS in about 3 knots of breeze on a odd course ... but any more than that and you'd not make it.

Going back a bit, I've aways called chcken gybes "wearing round" and iIve found it's actually quicker to be brave and gybe because you end up pointing quite high and not being where you want to be.